Chelsea have three games to play before facing Liverpool.

On 29 October, the League Cup was played away to York City.

On November 1, in the 10th round of the Premier League, he played at home against Queens Park Rangers.

On November 6, in the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, away against Roma.

Then it was on 8 November, away to Liverpool.

The schedule of these games is also very tight!

The Carabao Cup fourth round against York City was played on the third day after the Manchester United game.

Therefore, Pan Yi rested all the players who played in the Manchester United game, and used a completely different set of lineups to play in the League Cup.

It also happened that B and Gary Cahill returned from injury, and this game can be regarded as a recovery for them.

It's just that because the last game against Manchester United used a "5-1-4 stab", he threw the two center forwards up at once, so in this game, Pan Yi used Oscar to play the middle shadow striker, which can be regarded as a strikerless formation!

Forwards: Schurrle, Oscar, B.

Midfielders: Cancelo, Ramirez, Loftus-Cheek, Azpilicueta.

Defenders: Ake, Christensen, Gary Cahill.

Goalkeeper: Cech.

And Chelsea's opponent today, York City, is a typical "big city team".

What is the Big City Squad?

It's just that the city is famous, but the team is not famous.

As we all know, due to economic, demographic, historical and other reasons, the strong football clubs in a country are often concentrated in large cities.

In the five major European leagues, whether it is London in the capital of the United Kingdom, Paris in the capital of France, Rome and Milan in Italy, Munich in Germany, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, there are a large number of strong teams in these big cities.

This seems to be even more pronounced if it is outside the top five leagues.

Like Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Lisbon in Portugal, Kiev in Ukraine, Zagreb in Croatia, Belgrade in Serbia......

This includes as far away as South America, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and so on.

These cities are almost all the best teams in the country.

But there are exceptions to everything.

There are also some big cities, but there are no particularly good teams.

Take Berlin, the capital of Germany, for example.

Their main team, Hertha Berlin, although also mixed in the Bundesliga all year round, is really not well-known.

Union Berlin plays most of the time in the lower leagues.

These two teams are not comparable to Bundesliga giants like Bayern Munich, even compared to teams like Schalke 04 and Le Cu Wawson, they are not a grade.

In addition to Berlin, Germany, including Frankfurt, Cologne, Bremen and other big cities, has no way to have a real giant-level team.

Of course, there is also Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, but it is still the reigning Champions League champion in this world for the time being, so it is temporarily excluded.

There are so many "big city teams" in Germany, perhaps the reason for the 50+1 policy of the German league, which makes even big cities unable to attract investors, and it is difficult to be proportional to the attractiveness of the city.

Other countries have fewer examples.

Italy's famous water city Venice, whose team is also a Serie A and Serie B lift, really rarely impresses fans except for Uruguayan star Recoba.

And there are actually such cities in the UK itself.

Birmingham is the second largest international city in the UK.

But the Birmingham team, the West Bromwich Albion Albion team, the Aston Villa team in the city...... There are many teams, but none of them can be called giants.

Of course, compared to Chelsea's opponents in today's game, York City, none of this is a problem!

Yorktown, in the United Kingdom, is an out-and-out historical and cultural city, for nearly 2,000 years, York has been the capital of North England, the status of today's London.

In the city, there are also places of interest such as York Minster, which attract tourists from all over the world every year.

In addition to being a tourist destination, York is also a transport hub, educational and commercial centre as it is a major rail transit station and is the meeting point between the Pennines and the east coast of England.

New York, USA is hanging, right? Its name means "New York City" – although it can also be translated as "New Town".

But as the main club in this famous city, York City's name is much bleaker.

Their most impressive result in nearly 100 years of history is the second tier of England, which is equivalent to 15th place in the Championship.

And that's it, it was forty years ago.

They spend more time in the third and fourth tiers, and since their relegation from League Two in the 2003-2004 season, they have spent seven or eight years in the fifth tier, the national league.

That's already the realm of amateur leagues.

Although York City has remained a professional club, it was only in the 2011-2012 season that they returned to League Two.

After a tough relegation season, they finished seventh in the 2013-2014 season and qualified for the promotion play-offs.

Unfortunately, they lost to Fleetwood (Vardy's parent club) in the semi-finals and were not promoted to League One.

This season, there have been 15 rounds of matches in League Two, and York City is only 22nd out of 24 teams, in danger of relegation.

But they did very well in the Carabao Cup.

In the first three rounds, they beat Blackpool, Leicester City and Norwich City respectively to reach the fourth round of today, which is the round of 16, where they can play Chelsea head-to-head! ——

York City's home stadium is Busham Crescent Stadium, with a crowd capacity of more than 9,000 people.

It's already a very good course in the lower leagues.

But the problem is that this is already a stadium built in the thirties and forties of the last century, and the stadium was even damaged by air raids and bombs in the Second World War.

Even after many renovations, the infrastructure is still relatively dilapidated.

On the day of the game, it happened to rain heavily, and then there was a large area of water on the court.

After being inspected by the referee team, they felt that the venue was still okay, so they decided to continue the game as usual.

But as the race progressed, the rain became heavier and the water became more and more accumulated.

When a player plays on the field, every kicks out a wave, and every kick he steps on is water, just like a water fight.

In this case, the Chelsea players with more delicate footwork will obviously be affected a little more.

As for York City, their head coach Wilcox is obviously more familiar with the weather and venue in York City, and he fielded a lineup with high school striker Jack Hyde as the core of the attack early, focusing on defensive counter-attacks and long passes.

This is obviously the right strategy as well.

With the strength of a League Two team, how can it be possible to fight hard with a Premier League giant like Chelsea?

And when it comes to fighting physically, they are not afraid of Chelsea.

In fact, it was with this move that York City was able to take out a Premier League team like Leicester City.

Today happened to be a rainy day again, the venue was muddy, and it was a good time, place, and people, and York City was more and more confident the more they played.

Chelsea, on the other hand, played a bit harder.

The striker formation itself is relatively rarely used today, and the players will have some problems in some coordination.

And because the pitch was full of water, the ball became very slippery and heavy, more difficult to control than usual, and Chelsea's passing and receiving errors soared many times more than usual.

And their lineup is not easy to learn from York City to play golf.

After all, the two center pivots are not there, and now there is not even an authentic center on the field, so let Oscar compete for the header in front?

All of these factors made the first half extremely uncomfortable, and Chelsea struggled to get any decent shots on goal.

There was also a funny thing that happened in the 35th minute.

Loftus-Cheek drove the ball up front with a big kick and York City centre-back Keith Lowe missed the ball with a big kick that leaked to the back.

Oscar quickly caught up and slammed the ball away from the tall and bulky defender.

At this time, York City's goalkeeper Olenik attacked, and at the moment he fell to the ground, Oscar swiped to the right side and shook him over.

At this time, although Oscar's shooting angle was relatively small, the opposite side was already empty.

So Oscar gave a nudge in the direction of the goal, and then turned to celebrate the goal.

But the ball rolled towards the goal, and it was about to roll into the goal, but it stopped!

A puddle of mud in front of the goal "stopped" the ball on the goal line!

The ball didn't go in!

The York City defenders, who came back from the defense, rushed over to clear the ball off the goal line, and the crisis was resolved.

God help Yorktown!

This kind of scene, which is difficult to see in the Premier League, also makes the hearts of Chelsea players a little unhappy.

On the contrary, York City became more and more courageous, and in the 43rd minute of the game, a ball from Coulson on the wing, and Jack Hyde from the center smashed the ball into the Chelsea goal!

1:0, York City surprisingly lead!

That was the score at the end of the first half.

And Pan Yi was not ready to make any further adjustments to the lineup.

After all, it's just a League Cup game.

This kind of relatively weak competition in English football, many teams are sent to the bench, even youth teams to play, which is actually one of the reasons why some lower league teams can always upset.

Therefore, Pan Yi didn't take it very seriously.

Chelsea are not Tottenham again!

They are not the kind of team that lacks titles, especially the lowest level of the Carabao Cup.

For a League Cup, let the players who just fought Manchester United two days ago go up and fight again?

Or in such bad weather and field conditions, fighting against a League Two team that is known for its physical collisions?

After the game, we will go to the Premier League to face QPR and Liverpool.

Forget it.

Don't hurt your players.

And one more thing, the format of the League Cup is actually a bit strange.

That is, in the first few rounds of the game is a single-elimination system, but in the semi-finals there are two legs, and then the final becomes a single-game tiebreaker.

And when it comes to the semi-finals, it is often the end of January when the Premier League is more crucial.

It's really thankless to be distracted to play in the League Cup at this time.

Ferguson's "Christmas devil schedule" is actually the real devil when you add the League Cup.

Therefore, Pan Yi's attitude towards the League Cup is to win if he can win, and pull it down if he can't win, which he also uses as a place for the team to test new playing styles and players to recover their state.

Of course, at halftime, Pan Yi still lectured the players.

After all, the game still has to be played, and it is impossible to just say to the players, "Forget about this loss, don't take it too seriously", right?

This will undoubtedly be a huge blow to the confidence of the players.

As long as a player plays on the pitch, he always wants to win.

Not to mention these professional players, maybe it is linked to bonuses or something;

Even if you play football as an amateur or play wild football with strangers, everyone still wants to win!

Therefore, Pan Yi still encouraged:

"Today's game was really difficult, but it was also a test for you."

"The more hostile the environment, the more difficult the challenge, the more you must show your courage and determination!"

"Go, go fight. Now, it's time to get your fighting spirits up! - But be careful not to get hurt, the body is the capital of the revolution! ”

——

After the restart-up in the second half, Chelsea continued to attack York City in the face of overwhelming boos from the York City fans.

But the rain didn't stop in the second half, and there was more and more water on the field.

When you kick it in the back, even the ball floats up a bit, and you can't do a normal pass and cut at all.

So Chelsea also had no choice but to choose all kinds of high balls, but again and again to no avail.

It was not until the 90th minute that Schurrle forced a cut inside on the left side of the box, only to be fouled by a defender, earning Chelsea a free-kick in front.

Oscar stood at the penalty spot.

On the pitch now, he is the best free-kick player and the first free-kick taker.

Moreover, it is the edge of the box near the left corner at the edge of the box, and Oscar himself is good at taking free throws in this area.

And this will likely be Chelsea's last chance for this game.

In situations where it is difficult to open up the situation in sports battles, free kicks are also one of the best ways to break through the opponent's goal!

Oscar held the ball and wiped it with his jersey, but it didn't really work.

The jersey is soaked, the ball is soaked, and you can't wipe it dry.

But he still wiped it very carefully, and when he put it back, the grass was full of water.

Seat B and Loftus-Cheek also leaned over and discussed with Oscar what tactics to use.

But Oscar waved his hand, and the two walked away again.

What tactics do you want in this kind of ghost weather and ghost field?

Any tactics are in vain, and it's over!

I saw that after Oscar put the ball away, he slowly stepped back, measured his steps, and stood up.

After the referee's whistle, Oscar rushed forward quickly, stepped on the left side of the ball with his left foot support, and actually stepped out of a mud puddle, but fortunately the ball was not affected.

Then, he quickly curled a ball with his right foot.

The shot was very powerful, and it directly brought a large wave of water, but the ball still flew out with great speed, and after passing over the head of the human wall, it fell quickly.

I don't know if it's because of the water on the ball, but the ball is falling bigger than usual!

This led to Oscar's ball being kicked towards the dead corner, but it turned out to be a half-high ball, but it was still within the range of the goal.

That is, the banana ball was kicked into an elevator ball!

York City goalkeeper Olenik swooped sideways, but couldn't find the ball.

The ball goes into the net!

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL！！！！！！”

"Oscar! He took a free-kick chance to break through the York City goal! Tied the score at 1:1! It was an equaliser! ”

'It wasn't until the 90th minute that Chelsea scored for an hour and a half before they broke through the York City goal! It was a really difficult goal! ”

'York City is only a League Two team, but they have caused huge problems for Chelsea. In such a situation, even strong teams such as Manchester United, Manchester City, and Arsenal have not been able to make Chelsea feel it! ”

'In other words, it's the hardest game Chelsea have played so far this season!'

"Of course, there are objective factors in this. The conditions of the venue today are really terrible. ”

"Look at the slow-motion replay of Oscar's free throw just now...... This ball is simply a water balloon, wrapped in a large number of water stains and flying towards the goal, maybe the York City goalkeeper was blinded by the spray of water......"

"Ah, not long after the York City players restarted, the referee blew the final whistle."

"The game was a draw in 90 minutes!"

'It's just a Carabao Cup game, but it's really Chelsea's first draw of the season!'

"In a sense, their winning streak has come to an end!"

Pan Yi stood on the sidelines, but there was no expression on his face.

This goal...... How to say it, it is very beautiful, but ......

The Carabao Cup is a winner-or-lose game until the semi-finals, and if it's a draw in the 90 minutes, then there will be 30 minutes of extra time.

It's another physical ordeal for the players on the pitch......

So for a while, Pan Yi didn't know whether he wanted this goal to score or not.

Forget it, it's all kicked to this point, let's keep up the good work!

——

About forty or fifty minutes later.

At this moment, at the Bootham Crescent Stadium, the audience watched the stadium with bated breath.

In this League Cup round of 16, York City hosts Chelsea, and the penalty shootout has reached the fifth round.

Yes, they exchanged a goalless draw in 30 minutes of extra time and could only go to penalties.

In the first four rounds of penalty shoot-outs, York City and Chelsea each missed one.

York City took the penalty first and after scoring a penalty in the opening round, Schurrle, who was the first to make his game on Chelsea's side, missed the ball.

But in the fourth round, Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech saved from Coulsen's penalty to save the Blues and drag the shoot-out into the fifth round.

In the fifth round, York City center Jack Hyde scored a strong top corner to take the lead.

Loftus-Cheek, Chelsea's fifth appearance, was the key.

If he can score, the penalty shoot-out will go to a one-on-one duel to the death.

If he can't score, the game will be over and York City will qualify for the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Loftus-Cheek played Olenik, and that penalty would have been the difference between victory and defeat.

All eyes of the audience fell on the narrow penalty area.

Everyone in the stadium held their breath as the referee's whistle blew, but there were also plenty of York fans who booed Loftus-Cheek.

There was a slight hint of nervousness on the young Loftus-Cheek's face, but he gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and rushed forward.

In the process, he kept his eyes on the opposing goalkeeper Olenik, trying to see the opponent's shape before kicking the opposite corner.

But Olenik is also a veteran goalkeeper who is often rich, and he is very calm.

He didn't move ahead of time, nor was he shaken by Loftus-Cheek's feints.

This disrupted Loftus-Cheek's original plans.

After all, he was still a young player, and he was a little flustered for a while, and decided to push the ball to the bottom right corner on the fly.

But it was clear that his shot was on the low side and Olenik had guessed Loftus-Cheek's intentions.

So, Olenik slammed into a sideways pounce and actually pressed the ball firmly under him!

At that moment, the entire Bootham Crescent erupted like a volcano.

All the York City fans rushed out of their seats, cheering and screaming wildly.

Head coach Wilcox raised his arms and kept shouting, venting his inner excitement.

York City beat Chelsea on penalties!

It's not Chelsea's strongest squad, and it may not be a particularly important game for them, but it's still exciting for everyone at YorkCity!

There's nothing more refreshing for a lower league team like York City to beat a strong team in a cup competition!

Not to mention that Chelsea are still an invincible team this season!

York not only held Chelsea to a draw in regulation time, but also eliminated them to reach the quarter-finals!

While everyone in York City was celebrating wildly, Pan Yi came to Loftus-Cheek, who missed the penalty, hugged him and smiled:

"It's okay, it's okay. Congratulations, you've completed this main quest that you must take on your way to superstardom......"

Isn't it?

What Baggio, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, including the team's veteran captain John Terry, which one of them didn't take a penalty in an important game?

As long as you can get out of it and make yourself more resilient, this loss is nothing.

Hearing Pan Yi say this, the expression on Chick's face that was about to cry was forced back, and Xu Erle, who was also a little uncomfortable because of the loss of points, couldn't help but laugh.

At this time, a middle-aged man in his forties and fifties walked up to Pan Yi and stretched out his hand to him: "Hello, I'm Jason McGill. Is it convenient to chat? ”

It was a decent man in a suit and trousers, with a red scarf around his neck that represented the city of York.

Although the rain had not stopped, he did not hold an umbrella, and his hair was drenched.

"Jason McGill......" Pan Yi followed him to a covered place to keep out the rain, but repeated the name with a puzzled expression, "I'm sorry, you're ......"

"I'm the owner of Yorktown."

"Oh......" Only then did Pan Yi react.

It turns out that this is the "old man" that FM anchors often say!

Rub, it's too much, this guy is quite young, why is he an old man?

"Is there anything wrong with you?" Pan Yi asked curiously.

What did the Yorktown boss do to him?

Generally speaking, the owner of a football club finds a football coach to talk about joining the team to coach.

But Yorktown?

It's just a League Two team, after all.

And he, Pan Yi, is now a world-class coach who is famous all over the world, and the coach with the highest annual salary in the world!

Even if it is the five major leagues, if it is not a giant team, he will not dare to move his idea, let alone a mere League B team?

What the hell does this old man want to do?

Oh, not the old man. What the hell does this Yorktown boss want to do?

At this time, I saw Jason McGill laugh and say, "I want to ask you, are you interested in buying a stake in our team?" ”

(End of chapter)